


change of a tack

by pxrsephoneofeden



Series: Pills and Nails and Tacs [3]
Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Genre: Bipolar Disorder, F/M, Family Drama, Family Feels, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Future Fic, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Multi, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Post-Wedding, References to Addiction, Unplanned Pregnancy, Wedding Planning, Weddings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:54:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24560386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pxrsephoneofeden/pseuds/pxrsephoneofeden
Summary: Kyoya and Haruhi struggle to pull themselves, their family, and their life together in enough time to get married, all without killing them selves in the process.
Relationships: Fujioka Haruhi & Original Character(s), Fujioka Haruhi/Ootori Kyouya, Ootori Fuyumi & Ootori Kyouya, Ootori Kyouya & Original Character(s)
Series: Pills and Nails and Tacs [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1309967
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	1. thicker in the middle

**Author's Note:**

> \- the dramatic conclusion to my kyoharu drabble trio series, but i plan on writing more for this pairing in the future, likely in a different au or a different plot ;)
> 
> \- i had fun writing this, and i’m a sucker for sappy, happy endings, especially if they involve kyoya
> 
> \- Pls comment requests or recommendations for this triad or future kyoharu fics :)

“You know we’re not going to be able to get this altered in time if you continue to get thicker in the middle.” Hikaru, always blunt stated apatheticly as Haruhi struggled to unzip the tiny white gown the twins had finished sewing the day prior.

She scoffed and Kaoru offered a weak look of sympathy, “I’m sure he doesn’t mean it in that ‘you’re getting unhealthy’ way, if anything it’s a little comforting to see you taking on a bigger figure, ever since you started part time at that firm you’ve been looking so bony!” 

She rolled her eyes at both of them, before carelessly yanking the remainder of her hopefully wedding dress and it slid the rest of the way down her hips and thighs, which admittedly had taken on a much rounder shape than they’d been in university or even high school for that matter.

Brushing a lock of blonde streaked, chocolate brown hair behind her ear, cursing to herself for not letting the hairdresser cut it shorter like Kyoya suggested she might prefer as she wasn’t one for much primping, she puffed out an agitated breath and reached an arm out for Hikaru to hand her her clothes.

”I’ve been working on my first big case of my law career for this internship-“ She shoved a leg into her dark wash jeans.

“- I have been planning a wedding for over four hundred people including Kyoya’s rich ass extended family that already hate me-“, she struggled to get the other leg up, jumping ever so slightly to pull the denim up her legs all the way,

“- and to top it all off, we still haven’t found an apartment and my father, god love him, is making me wanna jump from the highest roof in Bankyo to my death!”

She ripped the button into the latch and threw her shirt on. The twins stood afraid to say anything.

”Nothing against you guys, I appreciate the concern but if i’m stress eating and I gain a little bit of fat, I’ll just remind you that you offered to make my dress cost free.” She smiled condescendingly and Kaoru chuckled, shaking his head in defeat. As Haruhi turned away from them to walk out the door, Hikaru shot Kaoru a surprised look.

”Oh you don’t think-“

”All i’m saying is that she doesn’t even gain weight during the holidays. She’s still tiny now but, it’s a bit odd her face and stomach have seemed to grow all of a sudden...” Kaoru strolled towards the discarded silk dress on the floor, picking it up and re-examining places where he’d previously pinned the fabric to her waist to fit like a glove only a month prior

-

Kyoya dry swallowed the mild pain relief pill with his back turned away from the living room area that Ranka was currently applying a magnanimous amount of blush onto his cheeks in, he faced the open pantry as to not tip off Ranka that anything was wrong with him, even though the weeks of sleeping on Haruhi’s much less-comfortable-than-he remembered-from high school, childhood bed had caused a rather large knot to form in his neck.

Ranka adored Kyoya, from the first time he’d anxiously called the then teen after tracking down his number, stressed nearly to tears his daughter was somehow getting trafficked by rich teenage boys in a host club, from the times Kyoya had guiltily used their small apartment as an escape from his unpredictable father once he and Haruhi had established a relationship, and now, more so than ever, after he’d dropped down on one knee to propose to Haruhi seaside at his family’s Okinawa beach, both for the backdrop and the irony. However, lately the selfless and very loving drag performer was causing both of the couple to feel absolutely drained.

After Haruhi entered law school, and Kyoya finally gained enough courage to move out of his father’s home while he managed his given sector of the Ootori Group Biomedical Innovation company, the pair had been graciously given an old loft apartment courtesy of Fuyumi, one that she’d stayed at when she was in college.

While it had been lovely at first rose colored inspection, the couple’s enjoyment of their first adult shelter came to an unexpected ending when the two, along with three other residents of the building, discovered mold shooting out of their showers along with murky brown water thanks to an unfixable pipe issue.

Not wanting to crawl back to the clutches of Yoshio Ootori, as Kyoya prided himself as a 24, going on 25 year old, he’d almost completely disassociated with his father’s emotional grip, only speaking for whole family gatherings or business civility; The pair were greeted with open arms by Ranka and Haruhi’s patience began to dwindle as her father’s excitement to have them home only grew with each day they struggled to sleep on her hard bed, a tangled mess of limbs and scratchy blankets.

It wasn’t that Kyoya was embarrassed to be living in what many would consider to be a downgrade from a three story mansion, or two floor loft apartment, nor was it resentment towards his future in-law as he loved Ranka almost as much as Haruhi, but the word that came to his mind whenever he dwelled upon his temporary living space was nausea.

The now constant pain in his neck made him nauseous as he rose from his lumpy mattress, and annoyed that he’d have to part from Haruhi’s exhausted body. Queasily, he would lay in bed at night alone until close to three a.m. , worried about Haruhi’s mental state, as she was preoccupied with planning their nuptials, her court proceedings, and would silently tap her foot in anxiety as she waited for her father to return home from bars, clubs, or even parties to entertain at, as in his older age, she began to see less safety in his chosen line of work.

He felt the most sick to his stomach however, in the fact that he held an overwhelming amount of guilt as though it were somehow his fault they weren’t yet on their own. He couldn’t bear to sacrifice any pride by telling his brothers or his father that he needed help finding a place and managing the company, he couldn’t help but over-analyze and critique every apartment he saw in a pop up internet ad, and he was almost overcome with a motion rendering stomachache when he overheard Haruhi venting to her father that she’d been throwing up at work out of stress.

The pain relief pills wouldn’t go into effect for another forty minutes but he figured a phone call would distract him from the sting in his upper vertebrae while he waited.

Pulling out his phone and smiling at Ranka as he trailed out the front door, wearing a shiny bright orange cocktail gown, matching six inch heels, and a faint scent of rum mixing in with whatever dollar store perfume he’d liberally applied, Kyoya wondered if he should tell Haruhi now or later her dad was most definitely drinking both on and off the job now.

He opted for later as he wasn’t sure how she’d take that news at her dress fitting, he could only picture the angry face of Hikaru as she threw her hands in the air and ripped whatever overly glittery and skin tight material they almost admittedly forced her into despite her wishes for a plain wedding gown. He called Fuyumi‘s house phone and gnawed at the inside of his right cheek while he waited.

”Hello?!”’His sister called out, bubbly, despite her contact name being affectionately labeled as “bitch-ass”.

”Hey it’s me, sorry I didn’t call your cell I wasn’t sure if you had it on you.” A trickle of coppery blood released into his mouth as he started talking, his incisor releasing the wall of his mouth, and he then had to accept how stressed he truly was.

“You sounds like something’s wrong. What happened?” His sister could read him like a book, she’d had this weird clairvoyance into his mind since he was a baby and she was often the one left to care for him as his parents hid away to fight or ignore one another.

”It’s nothing really i’m just calling-“ She sighed, letting him know he really couldn’t lie to her, his voice giving even the littlest bit of leeway for her to see his true mood was all it would take for her to pry.

“- fine, i’m not doing great, Haruhi is so stressed out about the wedding, the apartment situation-“

”You still haven’t found a place?!” She cut him off in perfect Fuyumi fashion, already scheming a solution despite the fact he hadn’t even gotten to the half of it.

”Let me finish , please, micromanager. Ranka is so sweet but just, god I hate myself for saying this but, just so overbearing. Every five minutes he’s asking about my day and how i’m excited to get married and oh! he saw an apartment we might like, and are we sleeping enough, Haruhi’s looking so sickly isn’t she! Is your dad coming to the rehearsal, who's best man, your brother or Suoh, it just goes on and on and-“

”Jesus bro, chill out for three seconds!” She chuckled into the phone, he could see her smile in his head, her eyes going squinty and looking at him like he was still a toddler scared to death of everything and needing big sister’s help.

”I’m overwhelmed. We get on a plane for Okinawa in three days, and when we come back from out honeymoon we won’t have an apartment, Dad still hasn’t said if he’s gonna bother to show up, Aunt Kiri scares the hell outta me and apparently Akito is saying she already doesn’t like Haruhi-“

”Kyoya if you don’t stop thinking about everything that’s gonna go wrong you’re gonna miss the good. Think about this-“

He beard his nephew in the background calling for ‘Mama’, Fuyumi pulled the phone away to say something out of earshot and when she returned he heard the gentle noises of a buzzing child wandering the room.

”-You’re gonna be marrying the love of your life in what is obviously your favorite place to be, you’re going on a honeymoon to the Virgin Islands where you can make more black headed demon Ootori children-“ He pushes out an almost laugh and she chuckled through the rest of her reasoning.

”-and you’re gonna get to come back to Bankyo and have all the time in the rest of your life to figure everything out. And as for Kiri? Fuck her, that old hag can’t escape death much longer!”

”Fuyumi! that’s horrid!”

”She threatened to slap me with a flip flop when I was five, we've never seen eye to eye.” He smirked at his sister’s grudge to their elderly relative.

”Ok, thanks for talking me down. See you in Okinawa ok?”

”Love you Kyo! Bye, tell Haruhi’s cute ass I said Hi!” She giggles and hung up, he sighed and let his body go limp against the cabinets, shutting his eyes and rolling out his sore neck. Haruhi opened the door to the apartment with two bags of cheap takeout. Relief was in his future, he hoped anyway.

-

“Sunglasses? Got em’, Rings? Got em’, Meds? Got em’” Kyoya was chanting to himself as he stroll with Haruhi through the airport, he let go of her hand to move his own up and down her back as they walked, she knew he only did that when he was nervous, so she offered a calm smile and leaned into him as they reached the gate.

He was more a nervous wreck than she was, she could sense it like the sun senses a tornado.

While he matched his breathing to hers as she drifted to sleep, she was sure he never really rested that night, his mind constantly moving in a million directions every time something important loomed over him.

The crowded airport didn’t make anything better for either of them, both of them being grumpy risers and his untamable anxiety gave her the most immovable case of the grumps, and she took it out on an unsuspecting TSA worker who decided to take a few seconds too long to examine Kyoya’s medication. He didn’t ever flush, but if he did, she could tell by the look in his eyes he was mortified and would’ve been redder than a cherry tomato when the man took his sweet time reading every letter of the word, ‘Seroquel- prescribed: anti-psychotics (Quetiapine)’

Since they waited for what felt like a barren, conversation-less eternity for their jet to be prepared, Haruhi couldn’t help but let her mind get the better of her.

”Are you sure your Dad isn’t gonna be mad we’re taking the jet?” Haruhi pulled her sunglasses down to look up at him as they walked up the ramp into the swanky white plane. The seats were a crisp creme leather and as much as they welcomed her to sit, she couldn’t help but think this might come to bite them later knowing Yoshio.

”Uh, yeah, I told you he called me and gave me the go ahead, said he’d be there for the rehearsal and everything so we might as well take one of the jets.” She nodded in acceptance and he held in a sigh of relief she bought it.

Truthfully, he was a little concerned about his father’s sudden generosity, having not a phone conversation, but an unplanned face to face one that he knew was best to keep out of Haruhi’s concern.

He was leaving his office building, loosening his tie, when he heard someone scoff and scold him from a nearby hedge that surrounded the building.

”If i’ve told you once i’ve told you a million times, stopping chewing your mouth to bits, Kyoya.” Yoshio took a drag of a cigarette as he shook his head at his son’s habit. Kyoya swallowed and walked hesitatingly toward his father.

”Oh hell, sorry that wasn’t much of a ‘Hey son how’s life!’ but we aren’t that kinda family are we Kyo?” He slapped Kyoya’s shoulder and he let himself be shaken by it, his body rippling ever so slightly as if he were back in his childhood mind, helpless to his father’s changing moods.

”Dad, what are doing outside my building?” He furrowed his eyebrows and looked disgustingly at the cigarette, knowing good and well he sometimes snuck one to five on the roof of the apartment building when Ranka and Haruhi weren't home, blaming the smell on a poor habit holding co-worker who couldn’t help but light up in the bathroom.

”Just stopped by to see how my favorite ’Bankyo’s youngest CEO’ was doing, saw the ‘Tokyo Event’ Magazine cover by the way, very handsome, very handsome.” Yoshio raised an eyebrow, shaking his head furiously up and down at his son.

”Dad, you’re being weird, just tell me what’s going on, is everyone okay?” His head tilted to the side, he clenched his jaw to keep from nipping his cheek once again.

”Fine, fine, I just came to tell you I’m coming to the wedding and as my apology for such a late rsvp, you two can take the smaller jet to and from Okinawa, hell just use it any time really, I only use the bigger one of them anyway.” He took a final drag of the cigarette and tossed the butt into the soil of the hedge.

Kyoya nodded and pulled out his own pack and the lighter to go with it. His father flashed a mirror of the smirk he’d replaced his own smile with countless times. The thought of Yoshio being a look into his own future was terrifying enough to need a smoke for.

”Thought you told me while back you were quitting” Yoshio said, a playful tone echoing through Kyoya’s ears as he lit the skinny vice in his mouth. He inhaled strong, and pushed the smoke out through his nostrils.

”Well, guess I inherited the noncommittal genes from someone.” He winked at his father while handing him one from the box. His father pushed it back and chuckled.

”I’ve had a pack today. You definitely got your personality from yours truly though, that i’ll agree with.” Kyoya kept smoking to avoid eye contact, he merely nodded as Yoshio droned about their strong genetics, a topic he could continue on forever.

”-Anyways. I can’t talk long, I just needed to offer the jet in exchange for my presence at my youngest’s wedding, okay?”

”Okay.” He didn’t say goodbye, he simply walked off. His dad was good at this game, playing coy and smart aleck, like he was just an admittedly scandalous man of power, cocky yet respectable. In reality, this was only Yoshio for around 25% of the time Kyoya was alive, the bitter, violent, often drunk specimen that drove his Mother to a worsened addiction was all he saw when their eyes met. But if his dad believes he can win his trust once again by flattery and private jet rides, he wasn’t gonna turn them down in a time like this.

He smoked again on the car ride home, the back of the limo filling up with grey clouds, Haruhi texted him she was running out with Renge for last minute items, and Kyoya closed his eyes, not thinking for the remainder of the drive.

The plane ride felt like a few seconds of blissful sleep to him. When his eyes fluttered open, he winced at the stuffy feeling pooling in his ears, Haruhi’s now much softer expression soothes him as she tries not to laugh at his cringe.

”Well, Mr. Ootori, I believe it’s officially time to get into marriage mode.” She shot him an exaggeratedly seductive smile, he laughed and the pair practically stumbled out of the jet, missing the feeling of solid ground and being taken aback by the salty air of the seaside.

The talked about the palm trees and the sunset on the taxi ride to the beach house, and as they grabbed their luggage from the trunk, Haruhi asked him jokingly if they could stay as far away from the guest room closest to the dining hall as possible, her bad memories were too strong, he rolled his eyes and mumbled that she was never gonna let it go after all these years.

Fuyumi and her bunch were just a house down, his brothers and their separate families wouldn’t arrive to squeeze into Fuyumi’s beach house until the rehearsal dinner was very close to starting, Ranka was already on a plane with the rest of the bridal party.

The second they put the bags down on the ground, Haruhi began stripping off her layers of baggy, comfy clothes, stating she needed a shower before the dinner and they were already running later than anticipated, as they’d walked in on decorators already setting up the signs and tables in the dining hall. He didn’t say anything, but something about her seemed different, her posture, maybe the thickness of her hair, whatever it was, she felt the same and yet a foreignness forced him a avert his eyes away as she dropped to her bareness in front of him and strolled into the shower.

The shower water immediately fogged up the mirror. Kyoya felt his phone vibrate furiously in a row three times. He pulled it out and inspected the message, his eyes widening and he quickly typed a response.

”I’m gonna go pick up Tamaki from the airport. I’ll be back as soon as possible ok?” He popped his head around the corner of the door, she peaked hers out from behind the shower curtain, modestly, as if she hadn’t fully undressed in front of him seconds prior.

”Fine. Please hurry. Love you.”

His phone buzzed again. Fuyumi needed to know if he was coming to her house or not.

He typed ‘yes’ and grabbed his shoes, putting them on as he filed out of the beach house and looking away from the decorators.


	2. should I be worried?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> \- the Ootori siblings attempt to keep Haruhi out of the loop when Akito misplaces a very incriminating item as the rehearsal gets in full swing
> 
> \- Renge and Ranka try to keep Kyoya out of the loop when Haruhi falls mysteriously ill and almost missed the dinner entirely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- TW: this chapter contains references to drugs/drug paraphernalia/alcohol consumption 
> 
> i do not condone the use of illegal drugs/drug paraphernalia, all references and uses of said items was added strictly for plot intensive and fictional purposes. please stay safe and take good care of yourself <3

“Haruhi hurry up guests are arriving! I can’t find Kyoya but we can just say he and Tamaki got stuck at the airport but God only knows where that princely asshole has dragged the bride-groom-“

Haruhi wiped the sweat from her forehead with her left hand as her right was holding her hair, which she still felt was too long for her liking, behind her neck.

“Alright! I’m coming just gimme a sec’!”

She was on her knees in front of the toilet, staring up at some overly themed nautical hand soaps on the shelf above the bowl that now held what was made of her airplane food lunch. Her missing fiancée was the least of her problems at that moment, she thought, actually, it was a close second to last right behind Renge’s complaining about the best man.

She scrubbed her palms with a peach scented liquid soap held in a container shaped like a pirate ship. The sickly sweet smell almost made her want to drop to her former position and let out a few more gags worth of puke. She stumbled over to the door, her closed wedges in one hand, and she remembered just how badly they hurt her feet as she looked down at her bare toes.

”I’m here, everyone will survive!” She bent down to strap on the uncomfortable shoes Ranka insisted she wore to ‘fit in better’ with Kyoya’s tall family that made up about 2/3 of the guests.

Renge had sprayed on some perfume with a thick alcoholic scent, Haruhi clamped her mouth shut as her stomach rumbled with every inhale too close to her maid of honor’s body. Her dress was a dark mauve color, and in accurate Renge style, it showed just a little too much leg for a modest rehearsal dinner, but Haruhi cared about it as much as she did about trying to save the twin’s feelings about her gown.

“You look like fresh hell.”

”Thanks Ren’, wanna lend me a hand and fix whatever my epic hurling just did to the eyeliner my Dad applied?” Her breath came out tasting acidic in her mouth, Renge scoffed at her sarcasm.

”Fine. Sit on the bed, but text your Dad to stall the Ootori’s for a few more minutes. Tastefully.” She paused before adding that last word, even though they both new Ranka’s work stories stayed tasteful for approximately two minutes even if he was warned.

Renge pulled an eyeliner pencil out of her clutch purse and began filling in the gaps Haruhi’s vomit tears tore her makeup with. A press of a thick powder with a puff from a compact, a dab of mascara, and she was good as new. She suddenly remembered why of all people, she chose Renge, as her maid of honor. 

It was a bit surprising to Kyoya when she mentioned it to him, out of the blue, over one of many takeout dinners with Ranka right after they moved in. Her father was pleased, as he knew nothing of Renge’s abrasive tone and maniacal laugh, all he knew was that she was the only female his daughter spoke more than a couple words a day to. Kyoya nodded agreeably, but tilted his head to the side and looked at her confused when Ranka took the food containers to the kitchen trashcan and the couple was alone.

“She’ll do what I need her to do for me. If she can’t get over her high school crush on you, trust me, she’ll be more than happy to oversee your wedding.” He mumbled an ‘alright.’ and that was all they spoke on it.

Haruhi wasn’t uncomfortable around Renge, but she had the weirdest suspicions Kyoya believed she was considering their past. After all, Renge had been a tad bit overly interested in the young billionaire when the three were in high school, but as time went on, she returned to Paris for fashion school, and she called Haruhi on an international call nearly every week, it was clear she mellowed out in her obsessive tendencies.

Hell, the only time she’d even considered Kyoya’s opinion on anything was when she asked how risqué he was comfortable with the bachelorette party getting, but immediately brushed it off when he asked her to keep it lowkey as she knew good and well Tamaki wasn’t gonna follow the same set of guidelines for the stag outing.

Renge looked lovingly at her handiwork, Haruhi was a picture of a cheery blushing bride once again, and the mint green peter pan collar dress she’d designed just for the rehearsal fit her perfectly. Unlike the twins, the frenchwoman thought internally, she knew a woman’s body can swell when stress is added to any situation, and after all her weekly calls to talk to what she considered her best friend, she’d heard about just how much fast food the pair had been ingesting since they’d moved back in with Ranka, so she offered a bit of liberal growing room in the lower waist area.

Not that going from a 24 to a 27 inch waistline is exactly a bad thing because men like a little extra to grab, she made sure to comment, as Haruhi huffed at herself in the mirror while turning at different angles and pried her eyes down her once waifish body. She got a glare and a look of defeat in the mirror but close to keep her mouth shut as the next two days were all about making the bride to be as relaxed as possible.

The two walked in synch down to the dining hall and Haruhi had never felt more relief when she saw Kyoya laughing at his brother while Tamaki stood looking exasperated at whatever Akito had said before she walked in the room.

Almost at once, everyone seemed to turn inwards right face Haruhi as she shuffled across the dining hall to claim her spot at Kyoya’s side, her shoulders covered by his arm draped loose on her as he put on his formal occasion mask, and what she had dubbed his ‘hosting voice’. Fuyumi waved at her almost as if to say, ‘pick up the pace and they’ll stop staring‘.

Renge flashed an overly sweet smile at Tamaki and siblings before whispering that she was gonna check on the rest of the guests, very waitress like, Kyoya thought. Yuuichi glanced up at him, and nodded toward an outside leading door. Fuyumi caught their exchange and silently prayed to whatever higher power existed Haruhi was too distracted by the overboard of guests to notice it too.

Fuyumi made the mental decision to martyr herself for her brothers sake, reaching into her long coat pocket and pulling out a fresh cigarette, flashing Haruhi and apologetic smile and asking quietly if anyone wanted to join her outside while she smoked. The brothers all nodded in a knowing trance.

“Sorry babe I know you can’t stand the smell, I’m gonna quite before Ryo starts schooling I promise!” Fuyumi pleased to Haruhi who rolled her eyes at the cigarette but forced a chuckled and stated she was gonna go find her Dad, and that Kyoya can find her somewhere at the food bar when they get back inside.

Once the foursome got outside, Yuuichi shut the door as quiet as he possibly could. Kyoya’s eyebrows were pressed as high up as they could go and he had a crazed smile. Akito looked down and Fuyumi blew a drag of her smoke.

”Who brought the baggy of coke, and where in the hell did you leave it! Someone start talking!” Kyoya whispered as if he was yelling. Tamaki silences his friend as he slipped out the door.

”I’m sorry, it just occurred to me how illegal cocaine is and how important it is that Haruhi know nothing of it being here at all.” The blonde rambled and Akito ripped Fuyumi’s cigarette away, inhaling sharply into it and blowing it out, stressed.

-

_2 hours prior_

“Kyoya slow the hell down, I know a man can get overzealous when he’s so close to marrying his beloved but you must control your-” Tamaki gripped his seatbelt with a pained fury as Kyoya blew the rental car threw a residential area void of people, thankfully.

“My sister texted me right before I left to pick up your flamer ass, and she had promised to leave me and Haruhi be until the dinner tonight so something is most definitely wrong, and if it involves those three, we should all be glad that all I’ve done is run a couple of stop signs.” He slammed on the brakes as they reached the curb outside his sibling’s shared beach house a few streets down from the grandiose one the rehearsal, ceremony, and bridal party was being held.

Tamaki sighed, understanding in silent agitation how rather difficult being a member of the Ootori family could be after all the years they’d been aligned in an unlikely friendship. The blonde thought back to his own wedding just a couple of years prior, his beautiful wife Mara whom he’d met on a family vacation to Greenland. The way she’d swept him off his feet and how they equally annoyed each other’s family with their frequent displays of adoration of each other. The mental picture of his wife, who unfortunately couldn't arrive with him as she was heavily pregnant with tier second child and he dreaded the idea of her having to deliver in a run down commoner hospital, was a calming, peaceful daze that he knew Haruhi’s presence caused Kyoya, and as much as he knew Kyoya was devoted to his siblings, he secretly prayed that maybe one day he’d distance himself further away from their unending chaos and live in that daze as long as he could.

Fuyumi answered the door in a quite obviously frazzled manner, she muttered something, not entirely out of earshot of Tamaki, about how he should’ve come to her house before, Kyoya rolled his eyes and pulled a box of cigarettes from his pack jean pocket, Tamaki cringed as the sudden memory of younger, but still adult Fuyumi offering the pair one from her pack when Tamaki was at her apartment with Kyoya for a visit, and Kyoya accepting like it wasn't a big deal, whereas the french guest of the home took one out of slight nervousness, and merely pretended to inhale.

The house smelled like smoke and a flowery women’s hair product that was very familiar to Tamaki, but he couldn’t place if it were something reminiscent of Mara or maybe that same anxious memory of the day he decided to take a closer look into what his new, and very devoted friend was exposed to at 13.

Kyoya always blew the smoke out through his nose, Fuyumi tilted her head upwards as if were meant to keep it from getting in anyone's face. Nobody spoke until Tamaki shut the door behind him and suddenly, Kyoya’s two brothers appeared from the living space, and it made Tamaki realize that up until now he’d never seen them dressed out of business attire.

“So, we have a slight issue.” Yuuichi was seated across from Akito at a breakfast nook. He didn’t look Kyoya in the eyes. Fuyumi cut her brother off as smoke evaded her mouth, like she couldn’t wait the few seconds to be rid of it, what she had to say was just that pertinent.

“Tweedle Dee and Tweedle dumb left a little nose candy somewhere in the beach house and it’s most likely in the dining hall.” Tamaki felt very confused. One does not just lose a baggy of cocaine. Kyoya’s eyes were full, blood, moons. Fuyumi shot Tamaki a knowing look, and she turned her back to put her cigarette out in an ashtray at the back of the kitchen as the demon within Kyoya’s nerves finally flooded out.

“You did what! Why did you have it on the plane you absolute pieces of shit! My fiancee is in the middle of a stress breakdown and she doesn’t need you assholes misplacing drugs in her house!” His face was hit and a vein no brother had ever seen was popping from the side of his neck, Tamaki swallowed hard and childishly worried it would pop if he didn't stop screaming. Fuyumi stood unaffected.

“Calm the hell down I-”

“What do you mean ‘her house’ because last time I checked our family has given her everything her poor ass-” Kyoya lunged across the table at Yuuichi who jumped back and flung out his arm to stop his younger brother from mauling him. Tamaki jumped to grab Kyoya’s shoulder but was shrugged off, Akito held Yuuichi’s left arm and Fuyumi paced to stand between them. Tamaki could smell the floral product in the air as she drew nearer.

Kyoya was hyperventilating now, anger subsiding and fear ravaging his body. Akito slammed his hand down on the table and his nostrils flared with a breath.

“Everyone shut the fuck up! We have an undeniable responsibility to make sure nobody finds that bag, Regardless of selfishness, stupidity, and the fact both of you are gonna hold this grudge for another decade. If Haruhi, Dad, or hell, anyone finds that snow, we’re all going down and there won’t even be a wedding.” He huffed out a muggy breath and Tamaki released the air he’d been holding in his lungs since the relatives began their spat over what would turn out to be the most illegal thing he was ever involved in.

-

The five unexpected drug smugglers relished in their smoke break’s worth of time to process their course of action. Kyoya’s job, clearly, was to make sure Haruhi had absolutely no clue of any suspicious activity going about under her nose, an uneasy task as her literal chosen profession requires her to examine a person’s every move in order to prove their in the wrong rather than her chosen side.

Fuyumi smushed the cigarette butt into the railing of a metal fence that wrapped around the outside patio. Akito and Yuuichi whispered something to one another and began a trek to the parking lot. Kyoya looked annoyed and dumbfounded, and before he could run after them and start to yell again, Fuyumi grabbed his arm and stopped him, saying, 

“They’re off to stall Dad, most likely, better them than you, or me. At the very least they're the only nonrunaways here! I’ll take Suoh and we’ll raid the kitchen for the coke, you, find your wifey, and pretend everything’s okay!”

Tamaki looked at Kyoya bracingly, expecting him to blow up like he always does if he’s ordered around. He went blank and just nodded obediently. Tamaki now remembered why he used to be just a little scared of Fuyumi when everyone else just saw her as the fun older sibling that would supply the gang with booze every now and then.

The image of a scrawny, thirteen-year-old Kyoya flooded his memories, the dry smoke clouds buzzing around him as he religiously listened to her, quite frankly, dangerous life advice as if she were a direct voice from God, himself.

-

“God, who is smoking out there?! Babe are you almost done, people are letting on that we keep disappearing to the bathroom every few seconds.” As Renge finished what Haruhi believed was her fiftieth rant of the evening, the bride to be hurled into the toilet of the hallway bathroom, unsure of whether or not it was safe to be this affected by taste and smell and not be suffering from a massive gastrointestinal virus.

“Oh God,-” she wiped the drying spit from her mouth and stood up shakily. “Just get me water from the round table and let me talk to Dad for the rest of the night. Don’t tell Kyo’ but I think I might be allergic to undeservedly wealthy classists.” Her stomach gurgled as she attempted to make light of her current situation. Renge gave her a sympathetic chuckle and the pair strolled back down the hallway and back to the dining hall, where Ranka approached frantically with a microphone in hand. Kyoya shot Haruhi a look and they read each other’s minds.

Oh yeah, they had to host this thing.

-

Ranka and Fuyumi had organized some rather tedious games for the couple to play as entertainment for the guests. The stupid and weirdly sexual questionnaire games were a blur to him as he tried to retrace his steps and figure out who the culprit of the coke could be and where it could be. As Renge shouted another random question at them he instinctively held up his flimsy paper sign with Haruhi's initials written on it in golden sharpie marker. He wanted to pat himself on the back, as even in a criminal drug investigation, he still knew everything there is to know about his prospective bride.

Fuyumi really had to hand it to him, he was impressively and concerning good at making it seem like nothing in the world mattered to him. A couple of strands of wavy pitch-black hair fell in front of his glasses as he let out the fakest, yet most believable laugh and leaned his head onto Haruhi's shoulder, her eyes closing in her own genuine laughter. She sucked her front tooth as she silently prayed for the poor, innocent, ray of justice infiltrating the Ootori shithole. Akito darted from behind the wall of distance family towards her, a cocktail in his left-hand halfway finished,

"So you had time to visit the bar, but no time to find the most illegal substance we've brought into a public space?" She scoffed her signature eldest sibling tone at him, he rolled his eyes and handed her the remainder of the strong, red beverage,

"Yuuichi has somehow convinced Dad everything is peachy, and the only rooms we've yet to check that wasn't your and Suoh's jurisdiction are completely clean. Goddamn Kyoya really should've been an actor." Fuyumi glanced over at her brother, now also entranced by Kyoya's expertise in creating his own version of reality for those around him he wanted to protect. Her eyes found Haruhi's frame and upon close inspection, she made a mental note of something she wasn't sure she should bring up to the rest of the family until the couple was halfway to their honeymoon or not.

"Well, we either have to amp up our own theatrical skills or get rid of that coke ASAP. If someone finds it before us we're screwed like a lightbulb." She threw back the drink as Yuuichi sauntered over to the pairing, his eyes fixated on his youngest sibling as he charmed a relative that didn't even bother to speak to any of the other three siblings there.

"Dad's smoking outside, but I have good news-" Catching Kyoya's eye from across the ballroom, he gave him a silent nod to join them in their corner of shared knowledge.

"Please tell me you found it, I don't know how much more of this I can handle, I feel like I'm sixteen pretending to enjoy being a host again."

"Even better. Fellas... and lady. Meet me in the upstairs guest bathroom in ten minutes for a little surprise."

~

Haruhi wanted a kill Kyoya for leaving her alone again. She could read him like a book, every time his lips pursed and his teeth met the soft flesh of his cheek she knew something was amiss. Fuyumi barely spoke to her and the brothers were a silent pair as well. She figured Yoshio's presence, as anticlimactic as it may have been for everyone, as they all soon remembered it was only the minority of Ootori family members that didn't like him, was taking a toll ok her fiance, and Akito may have brought a little, special grass, to help with those nerves.

She wasn't mad about the weed, she just wished they would've included her.

A small twinge of guilt struck her stomach as she wandered misguidedly through the halls of yet another mansion belonging to the infamously terrifying family she'd grown to stop fearing. She'd left Renge all by herself to face the Ootori family, genetic clones with a perpetual smell of gin that encapsulated them, toothless smiles, and hair blacker than raw obsidian. She grinned as she remembered her first sleepover with Kyoya, his unpredicted word vomit, and revelations that drove her to an answer as to why she'd been so intrigued by him ever since that night after she fell from the cliff.

She wouldn't say he'd traumatized her, she'd barely been scared for more than ten seconds, but embarrassingly, she relived that moment more times in one week than she'd ever care for him to know. His still-damp hair dangling, almost touching her forehead and he whispered almost maniacally of how she'd been so defenseless to him. She could see so clearly into the eyes now been in deep adoration of for nearly nine years. The ashy grey-brown that changed like autumn with his moods, his glassy stares when he was masking his real self, and the sheer deepness they held when she looked into them captivated her mind. He can smile all he wants, she thought as she glided her feet over to the entrance of the guest room, and laid on her back in the same spot on the bed she remembered so vividly being thrown against. She closed her eyes and let her hands move down to hold each other across her stomach. She gulped and began to rub up and down her middle with her left hand, pleading to whatever higher power existed she wouldn't vomit her way down the aisle.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, a text from Tamaki at such a random time wasn't out of the ordinary for anyone that happened to know him, but the message itself concerned her enough to jump up from the bed and sneak her way out through the guest bedroom window, her cream nail polish chipping at the edges as she slid down the small gap from the windowsill to the sandy ground.

~

"Tamaki will explain to me why you're claiming that I need to think about this choice long before I marry Kyoya tomorrow or I may just have him come out here and beat an explanation out of you myself." He gazed down at the aggravated woman before him, she feet bare as she's ditched her heels on the way out, her cheeks red and face a sickly pale.

"This has nothing to do with Kyoya. I'd never tell you to think before marrying him, hell, he's the man I'd say loves his girl as much as I love Mara. Haruhi-" Her eyes had softened, and blush had no faded along her face as she had been expecting an argument. He furrowed his brows, the pain of his next statement setting in.

"I need you to really think about what you're choosing to live with for the next eternity because if anyone should know about living in a fantasy world and having to regain a sense of reality, it's me.

"Tamaki what the hell do you mean, what I'm choosing to live with, I know about Kyoya's disorder, I know about his awful family, the scarily identical genetic personality they all share, trust me that hasn' scared me away for the past five years it's not going to-"

"How long have you known about it?"

"About what" She stepped forward, gritting her teeth and fighting back a tear and he looked at her disgustedly.

"You really wanna pretend that you can keep this pregnancy hidden until after the honeymoon and expect everything to gloss over fine? You wanna know why I've been AWOL all night, I was running rapidly through the halls with Fuyumi looking for a bag of motherfucking loose cocaine-"

"What! You WHAT!?"

"Save it, that's not even it. Kyoya's up there taking a long drag of a cigarette while Akito and Yuuichi snort what's left of that bitch, Fuyumi's probably drunk and starting a family feud, Yoshio's not a changed man ok, he's making under his breath comments about Ranka all night and-"

"Ok and-" She was crying now, her tears hot and angry. "What's the point, I'm already knocked up, and even if I wanted to I'd never be able to wish I didn't love him, the two-faced, idealistic, naive person he maybe he's loyal and he makes me feel like a goddammned Goddess every day I feel like an ant!"

"You really want your child to be born into this world with the Ootori family's name stamped on their ass and being toted around like a white flag or a peace treaty. They'll walk right over Kyoya because as much as he loves you, his loyalty is to that woman sitting up there with him cutting him a line of coke! They're a cult, the whole family not just the core siblings, Haruhi. They may make you laugh and welcome you with open arms but you are a pawn. Your baby is a pawn. They're not just involved in pharmaceuticals if you catch the drift. Ha, I have nothing left I can plead to you for, just hey do me a favor-" As he walked away, frustrated by her stubborn expression, he leaned in and whispered her an earth-shattering question,

"Next time you see Yoshio, ask him which gang his tattoo is from, see I forgot from when I was a first-year."

Kyoya looked for Haruhi for hours to no avail, he didn't know what called out to him, but as he watched Tamaki slump into a chair of the dining hall with a fresh shiner on his right eye bag, dress pants sprinkled with high tide wet sands, he jumped up from his seat and began running down the beach, His nose stung from his previous activities he'd be ashamed to admit Akito pressured him into. He wiped a stain of dried blood from his nostril and searched relentlessly for his runaway bride.


End file.
